Brick machine



C. H. BLISS BRICK MACHINE Septo 9 1924.

Filed Jan. 14. 1924 4 Sheefs-Sheet l c. H. BLISS BRICK MACHiNE FiledJan. 14

I o o I I Sept. 9 1924.

C. H. BLISS BRICK MACHINE Sept. 9 1924.

Filed Jan. 14 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Sept. 9 1924.

- 1,508,212 0. H. BLlSS BRICK MACHINE Filed Jan. 14 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet4 Patented Sept. 9, 1924.

CLYDE H. BLISS, OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA.

BRICK MACHINE.

Application filed January 14, 1924. Serial No. 888.010.

To all whom it may concern:

-Be it known that I, CLYDE H. Buss, a citizen of the United States,residing at Atlanta, in the county of Fulton and State of Geor ia, haveinvented certain new and useful m rovements in Brick Machines, of whicht e following is a specification.

The invention relates to machines for making bricks of material such asPortland cement and sand, and has as an object the rovision of a machinefor producing a numer of bricks at one operation, wherein the partitionsbetween the separate bricks and the box for supplying material to themold are actuated by power applied when other portions of the machineare actuated.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a machine of theclass described wherein the gates forming the end wall of the mold aregiven a troweling action at the initiation of their withdrawalpreparatory to removing the pallet holding the bricks.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a machine havingmeans to leave a surplus of material upon an edge of each brick whendesired, which material may be worked upon or struck off by the operatorfor production of bricks having special faces.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a machine whereinthe material of which the bricks are formed is retained in the spaceabove the molds for the separate bricks until the compacting apparatushas completed its action.

Further objects of the invention will appear from the followingdescription when read in connection with the accompanying drawingsshowing an illustrative embodiment of the invention and wherein- Fig. 1is a front elevation;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2, 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line 3, 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is alike section on line 4, 4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a detail side elevation;

Figs. 6 and 7 are detail vertical sections on line 6, 6 and 7, 7 of Fi2.

As shown the device 18 supported by a frame 10, preferably made of angleiron and strap iron. To supply'the mixed and moistened sand and cementto the machine, there is shown a hopper 11, broken away to reduce itsvertical dimensions in Fig. 2, and which hopper is shown to stand at avery steep angle and to very gradually reduce in size as it approachesits lower end to prevent arching of the material therein.

As indicated at 12, Fig. 2, a second machine w th its hopper may beplaced back to back w1th the one illustrated, so that a car u on anoverhead carrier may dump material into the two hoppers at once.

To support the usual pallet 13 upon which the bricks are molded andremoved from the machine, there is shown a horizontal portion of themachine comprising a member 14 of a T iron having a second horizontalportion 15, and a vertical ortion 16. Also an angle iron 16 is shownorming the edge of this portion of the machine.

To form the vertical walls of molds for the blocks, there are shown aplurality of plates 17 two of which, 18, and 19, form the outer wallsfor the mold for the end blocks of the series. The machine asillustrated is adapted to mold ten bricks at a time, this being thenumber which a workman can conveniently handle.

To maintain the spacing of the plates 17 and to guide them in movementsof reciprocation, the member 16 of the T iron already referred to isshown as slotted, so as to provide an accurate sliding fit for theplates 17.

To connect the plates together so as to enable them to be reciprocatedas one, there is shown a rod 20, Fig. 3, and the plates are shown asmounted upon the rod by means of pairs of lock nuts 21. A yoke 22 isshown also mounted upon the rod 18 and connected to a, piston rod 23having a piston reciprocating in a cylinder 24. To cause movements ofreciprocation of the plates, fluid under compression, as air may besupplied by means of a supply pipe '25 to a. four-way valve 26controlled by a lever 27, so as to alternately admit air to the ends ofthe cylinder and exhaust air from the opposite ends at each movement ofthe valve. The end plates 18 and 19 are shown as being longer than theother of the plates 17 and rollers 28 are provided for these end platesto slide upon.

To close the space at the front between the plates 17, there is shown apair of gates 29, 30, pivoted at 31, 32, upon plates 33, 34 which inturn arepivotally mounted at 35 upon the frame of the machine 36.Handles are Shown at 3 8 01 manipulation of the gates,

There is no strain upon the gates during the compaction of the bricks inthe molds, to cause them to move longitudinally of themselves, since theplates 33, 34 are not in contact with the material of which the bricksare bein formed. To prevent the gates moving forwardly, away from theendof the bricks, there is shown a. clamping bar 39, which may be mountedto revolve about an axis 40, after the style of a button. After thematerial has been compacted in the mold to the desired extent thehandles 37, 38 will be rasped by the operator and the plates will emoved slightly in a longitudinal direction of separation, the radius ofmovement upon the plates 33, 34 being sufficiently large to permit ofthis slight movement without binding upon the end of the outer plates18, 19. This movement will provide a troweling action upon the ends ofthe brick and enable the adhesion of the gates to be broken, so thatwhen the gates are swung away from the end of the brick they will notcarry with them the plastic ma; terial which has been compacted againstthem. This is a very valuable feature of my invention. After this slightmovement the button 39 may be swung to free the ends of the gates whenthey may be swung outwardly, if sufficient sliding motion has not beenprovided to already free the ends of the gates from the button.

To control the movement of the sliding plates 17, there is shown a crankarm 41 connected by a link 42 to a bell crank 43, pivoted at 4A upon theframe of the machine, and having its other arm 45 connected by means ofalink 4:6 to the lever 27 controlling the valve 26. The valve is to beso connected that the closing of the gates 29, 30 will actuate the valveto admit air to its rear end and exhaust air from its forward end,thereby causing the plate 17 to be projected forwardly into mountedposition. After the bricks have been formed the act of opening the gatewill reverse this operation and cause the withdrawal of the plates, butonly after the gates have been moved longitudinally to trowel the endsof the bricks and have then been separated entirely from the bricks.

To supply material for the bricks from the hopmr 11, there is shown abox 47, the horizontal dimensions of which are substantially the same asthe lower end of the hopper 11. The box is shown mounted forreciprocation over a plate 48, terminating at the upper end of theflange 16, through which the plates 17 slide.

Attached to and sliding with the box,

there is shown a plate 49 which progressively closes the end of thehopper 11 as the box 47 is forced forward. The forward path of the boxis such as to bring the same in registry with the space enclosed by theplates neonate 17 and the gates 29, 30 and cl +0: at the rear by theslotted member 16.

To reciprdcate the gate, the same is shown as attached to a piston rod50, carryin a iston, not shown, reciprocating in a cyliner 51. Theadmission of a fluid, as air under pressure, to the cylinder 51 is alsocontrolled by a four-way valve 52 similar to the valve 26.

To compact the material in the mold supplied thereto by means of the box47, there is shown a series of tamping devices 53, which may be mountedupon a pipe 54:, to which air under pressure may be supplied by a pipe,not shown. The tampers are shown as yoked together by means of a yokedevice 55, and supplied with tamping plates 71 substantiall equal inarea to the edge of a brick, the p ates being spaced apart substantiallyequal to the thickness of the plates 17, and the assembly carried by apair of levers 56, 57, pivoted at 58, 59, upon the frame of the device,counter weights 60, 61 being preferably provided to balance the tampers.

To cause automatic movement of the box 47 without attention from theoperator, the valve 52 is shown as ada ted to be controlled by a link 62pivote to the lever 56, and connected to the lever 63 by which thelatter lever is operated. When so connected the initial movement of thetamping devices will cause air to be admitted to the rear of thecylinder 51 and exhausted from the front thereof, when the box 47 willbe suddenly projected to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2,when the material will fall into the molds by gravity. The depth of thebox is so chosen that after the material supplied thereby has beencompacted to its maximum extent, the mold will be slightly more thanfull, and will be struck ofi by the edge of the box u on its return tothe rear position. The ox being projected during the initial movement ofthe tamoers, they will be brought down and will be guided during thelast portion of the downward movement by the sides of the box and willact within the same while compacting material in the molds. Aftercompletion of. the compacting process the tamping devices will be swungupwardly and the latter portion of this movement will admit air to theforward end of the cylinder 51 and exhaust air from the rear there0f,.

thereby causing the box to be automatically retracted when it will againbecome filled with material from the hopper 11.

In the formation of ordinary bricks the motion of the box 47 shouldstrike off the material flush with the edges of the plates 17. It isoften desirable to produce bricks having the edges to be exposed in thewall of special character to which end the bricks in the molds must beworked upon as by lllfi troweling, working in waterproofing material, orcoloring matter, or by str king them off with a wooden float to providea roughened surface. To provide a slight excess of material for thesepurposes the front of the box may be made vertically ad ustable. To thisend the ends of the front of the box are shown as provided Wltll flanges7 3 passing between the edges of the ends of the box at 74 and bolts 75are provided to secure the box front in ad'usted position. The boltopenings in the anges 73 are in the forms of slots to permrt of theadjustment. In the drawings the box front is shown as raised at 72 toleave the excess of material desired.

I It is sometimes desirable to work upon the end of the bricks after thegates have been removed, and in which case the u per corners of thebrick are likely to be amaged. When such operation is desirable, thegate plates 33, 34 will not be swung laterally sufiicient to causeretraction of the late until after the work has been done, but the gates29, 30 will be swung upon the pivots 31, 33, into a positlon inalignment with the gates 33, 34. To protect the u per edge of the bricksduring such work, t ere is shown a plate 64, preferably seated upon aledge at the base of the hopper 11 where it will be out of the way whennot needed. Plate 64 is shown as carried by the end of rods 66, whichrods carry at their opposite ends rollers 67 adapted to travel inchannels 68 (see Fig. 7). When desired for use, the plate 64 may bedrawn forwardly to occupy the position of the forward edge of the box 47shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, when the desired operation may becarried out upon the ends of the brick without danger of damaging theplastlc upper corners thereof.

It will be seen that there are therefore but two portions of theapparatus to be operated by the operator to complete the formation ofcommon bricks. First, the gates and, second, the tamping apparatus, andtherefore many more bricks can be produced in a given time than with thedevices of the prior art, wherein each of the elements of the machinehad to be operated separately by the attendant.

To catch material spilled from the machine, or troweled off from theupper edge of the bricks after their compactlon, there is shown a plate69 upon the interior of the lower portion of the frame 10. Terminatingat its lower end in a horizontal portion 70, the spilled material may beshoveled u from the plate 70 and placed in the box 47 or preferablyreturned to the mixer to be mixed with fresh material to be supplied tothe hopper 11.

The operation of the device will be clear from the above description.Minor changes may be made in the physical embodiment of the inventionwithout departing from its spirit.

I claim-2 Y 1. A brick machine comprising, in combination,. a brickmold, means to supply material thereto, tamping means held normally invinoperative position and manually movable to position to compactmaterial in said mold, and means set into operation by initial movementof said compacting means toward operative position to cause delivery ofbrick material to said mold.

2. A brick machine comprising, in combination, a brick mold, meansmovable to a position over the mold to deliver material thereto and to aposition removed from the mold to receive a supply of material, tampingmeans held normally in inoperative position and manually movable toposition to compact material in said mold, means set into operation byinitial movement of said compacting means toward operative position tomove said delivery means to delivering position, and means set intooperation by return of said compacting means to normal position toreturn said delivery means to material receiving position.

3. A brick machine comprising, in combination, a brick mold, poweroperated means to supply material thereto, tamping means normally heldin inoperative position and movable to position to compact material insaid mold, connections between the support of said tamping means and thecontrolling element of said power means to cause the actuation of saidsupply means upon movement of said tamping means to operative position,whereby it will cause delivery of brick material to said mold.

4. A brick machine comprising, in combination, a brick mold, fluidpressure 0 erated means to supply material thereto, uid pressureoperated tamping means normally held in inoperative position and movableto position to compact material in said mold, connections between thesupport of said tamping means and the control valve for said materialsupply means whereby movement of said tamping means to operativeposition may cause actuation of the supply means to cause delivery ofmaterial to said mold.

5. A. brick machine comprising, in combination, a mold for a pluralityof bricks" comprising partition plates to separate the spaces for theindividual bricks, and end plates for enclosing the outer of saidbricks, a gate for closing the ends of spaces between said plates, andmeans whereby the gate may be moved in its plane in contact with thecompacted material in the mold and subsequently may be swung away fromthe mold whereby to provide a troweling action to break adhesion betweenthe wise and the newly formed bricks.

6. A brick machine comprising, in combination, a mold for a plurality'ofbricks comprising partition and end plates for enclosing the spaces forthe individual bricks, means to project said plates to enclose saidspaces and to withdraw said plates from between the bricks after theformation of the latter within the mold, a manually operated end gatefor closing the spaces between said plates, means whereby said end gatemay be swung awa from said spaces after the formation of bricks therein,and means'operable by said last named means to cause retraction of saidplates from between the bricks formed in said spaces.

7. A brick machine comprising, in combination, a plurality of spacedparallel plates adapted to be projected into mold forming position topartially enclose mold spaces for a plurality of individual bricks, amanually operated end gate mounted to move to a position to close theends of said spaces and to be withdrawn from said position, means toreciprocate said plates, means set into operation by moving said gatesto mold closing position to move said plates to operative position, andmeans set into operation by withdrawal of said gates to withdraw saidplates.

8. A brick machine comprising, in combination, a brick mold, areciprocating box to supply material to the mold and to strike off thecompacted material therefrom,

neonate means acti within the box to compact material in b mold,adjustable means carried by the strikin otf edge of the box todeterminethe re ation, to the edge of the mold, of the surface prodn bythe striking 0d of the material.

9. A brick machine comprising, in comblnation, a brick mold, areciprocating box to supply material to the mold and to strike 0d thecompacted material therefrom, means actin within the box to compactmaterial in t e mold, the edge of said box which strikes oil thematerial being vertical] ad'ustable to determine the relation, to t e ege of the mold, of the surface produced by the act of striking ed thematerial.

10. A brick machine comprising, in combination, a mold for a pluralityof bricks comprlsing partition and end plates for enclosing the spacesfor the individual'bricks, power operated means to project said platesto enclose said spaces and to withdraw said plates from between thebricks after the formation of the latter within the mold, an end gatefor closing the spaces between said plates, hinge means whereby said endgate may be swung away from said spaces after the formation of brickstherein, and a connection between the hinge means and the control ofsaid power 0 erated device to cause retraction of the plates frombetween the bricks npon movement of said hinge means.

CLYDE H. BLISS.

